NEW YORK — Jessica Simpson was the blonde elephant in the room when two of her exes and her new guy — Dane Cook, John Mayer and Tony Romo — were honored together at Cosmopolitan’s Fun Fearless Male Awards.

But Romo, the Dallas Cowboys quarterback, broke the ice when he joked about the situation while claiming his award at Monday’s luncheon.

When musing about what made him qualify as one of Cosmo’s Fun Fearless Males, Romo said: “Dane Cook, John Mayer … if you date Jessica Simpson, I guess.”

The Simpson trend began when her ex-husband, Nick Lachey, was honored by the mag as 2007’s Fun Fearless Male of the Year (Mayer got the top award this year). But there were other honorees with non-Simpson connections: John Krasinski (NBC’s “The Office”), singer Chris Brown, rapper Common, Peter Krause (ABC’s “Dirty Sexy Money”), Dave Annable (ABC’s “Brothers and Sisters”), Animal Planet’s Dave Salmoni and MySpace.com co-founder Tom Anderson.

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Romo told The Associated Press that football makes him fearless — but so does being a celebrity athlete whose life off the field is tabloid fodder. Romo’s relationship with Simpson came under fire earlier this year when fans blamed the couple’s weekend trip to Mexico for the Cowboys’ defeat by the New York Giants (who ultimately won the Super Bowl).

Romo said he tries to ignore the intense media glare into his personal life.

“You live life. I’m just trying to be a good person, trying to work hard and do things the right way,” said Romo, who has also been linked to Carrie Underwood and actress Sophia Bush.

When asked about his offseason plans, Romo said he’ll “probably just hang out with the guys, you know, get away a little bit and get back home.”